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Thursday, 25 June 2015

Ori and the Blind Forest
first caught my eye at E3 last year, and when I saw it on sale I
decided to pick it up. I don’t typically play platform style games,
but it looks bloody gorgeous and I’ve heard good things.

Life is Strange is a title
I was always going to get at some point, but I’m not really fond of
the episodic release schedule. My intention was to wait until the
entire game was complete, but when I saw it on sale I figured it was
worth buying now. The last episode is due to drop in July or August,
which isn’t too far off.

Despite already owning all
the Homeworld games, I decided to pick up the Homeworld Remastered
Collection, if only for access to the included ‘classic’ editions
without any of the compatibility issues. I’m already playing this
through and though I have a few issues with the HW1 remaster, I’m
enjoying it a lot.

This War of Mine is a title
I thought sounded interesting, but what I saw of the gameplay looked
a little dull. I wasn’t too sure about this one, but thought I’d
give it a go.

And finally we have
Transistor, from the same studio that created Bastion. I liked
Bastion, but I didn’t love it, so I wasn’t all that excited about
Transistor. But at only three quid, I figured it was worth a punt.

Overall, I think I ended up
with a nicely varied selection of games to keep me busy for the
immediate future. At least until they fix the new Batman. Bloody hell, that’s a mess.

Saturday, 20 June 2015

There were times when
playing The Witcher 2 that I wished for more of an open world
experience. Because the world of The Witcher series is a rich,
fascinating world, full of interesting locations, characters and
creatures. I wanted to see more
of it, and The Witcher 3 undoubtedly delivers in this regard. But I
must admit, I now somewhat regret this wish, because though the open
world of TW3 is a joy to explore, it also proves somewhat detrimental
to the overall experience.

I’ve spoken in previous
reviews about quality versus quantity, about the importance of focus
and pacing, about how less
can be more.
Though its open world is split into two major zones (Velen/Novigrad
and Skellige), each of these is massive and packed to the brim with
content and quests. But did
The Witcher 3need
so many quests?

Many side missions in TW3
are great, typically the ones which spin off from the core quests or
feature particular characters. Why? Because they feel relevant and
important to the story or series. You then have slightly more
elaborate side missions which, though unrelated to the overall
narrative, still feel worthwhile. And then you have the side quests
that can only be politely described as ‘filler’. And there’s a
lot
of them.

It feels wrong to complain
about too much content – but in this case, it only serves to dilute
the experience. Quests frequently blur into one another. By the end
of the game I had over 220 quests listed in my log, but a good 60-70
of these added nothing of value to the overall experience. The
Witcher 3 is sadly bloated by unnecessary content. There are many
‘quests’ which are typically completed in 2-3 minutes. Some are
unique, but ultimately forgettable, and many others follow a
repetitive structure of say – find body/find key/open chest.

Did these quests need
to be tracked as such? Did they need to be treated as ‘quests’ at
all? Having
everything added to your log and tracked, even if it’s just to
collect some junk from a chest, results in a quest log that rapidly
becomes more like an ever growing check-list of tedious and
repetitive tasks. Yes, you can ignore much of this content, but it
still clogs up your quest log until you clear it – not to mention,
you’re never quite sure when a seemingly insignificant side mission
will lead to something far more elaborate.

Not everythingneeds
to be a ‘quest’. I’d have loved it if they’d just tracked the
core and the more elaborate side missions and let everything else be
there for the player to discover and explore on their own. The side
content is also badly balanced in terms of distribution throughout
the game, but I’ll talk more about this later.

The Witcher monster
contracts, which I was really looking forward to, are also something
of a mixed bag. Some are elaborate and highly enjoyable, requiring an
investigation or preparation of sorts, but many others follow the
same basic structure of – go to where monster was last seen/follow
monster tracks using Witcher sense/ kill monster. I loved seeing so
many monster types, but as quests, the Witcher contracts offer a
fairly simplistic and repetitive experience. But what about the core
quests and story?

The opening ‘prologue’
zone (White Orchard) is fantastic at balancing core and side missions
in an area that feels just the right size. It’s well paced and
serves as a great introduction to the open world nature of TW3. This
zone leads you onto the ‘Velen’ arc of the story involving the
Bloody Baron. These are also fantastic and lead to several
interesting (and related) side quests. This part of the game feels
perfectly paced with an appropriate level of side content available
at your level.

Velen, however, is then
followed by the Novigrad arc, which is where the story runs into
trouble. I’m going to keep this review as spoiler free as I can, so
I’ll try to be brief. You arrive in Novigrad on the trail of a
certain character. In order to find them you intend to seek out
another character for help. But this character is missing. Once you
find them, they point you to another
character who isn’t so much missing as indisposed and requires
another quest be completed before they send you to find another
character. Who is also missing.

Do you see where this is
going? In order to find this
character you must first complete more quests in order to find
another
character who is also
missing and in order to find them you must OH GOD PLEASE MAKE IT
STOP. This is the part where I had to quit the game for a day or two
because I wanted to punch it.

The Novigrad arc has
serious pacing issues and frankly, just isn’t very interesting to
play. Even though it features certain characters who I was pleased to
see return, the Novigrad chain is really f**king tedious and
needlessly drawn out. It was the only time in the game I began
skipping through dialogue because I just wanted it to be over.

Thankfully, things improved
a lot once I’d hit Skellige, and the core and ‘main’ side
quests here revolving around the island clans were great fun to play
and be involved in. From here, the pace picked up significantly and
the plot, which had begun to drag, started to gain momentum once
again.

These three separate arcs
essentially compromise the first act of the game. This is followed by
two more acts, although these tend to be more linear in terms of
quest structure – not necessarily a bad thing, as by the time you
hit Act 2, you’ll really be wanting the story to kick into high
gear. And it certainly does!

Act 2 has some of the best
moments in the game, moments that will make you laugh and maybe even
shed a tear or two. With one or two exceptions, everything that
follows from Act 2 onwards is excellent, and the pacing issues of Act
1 are all but forgotten. Some of the final quests do feel a little
rushed, and I suspect quite a bit of late-game content had to be cut
due to time/budget reasons, but the way the game brings everything
together at the end is fantastic.

For all the flaws of TW3,
it delivers where it matters the most – by providing a satisfying
ending to the series. It’s thoughtful and perhaps a
little bitter-sweet. It’s an ending with three main variations
determined by certain choices you’ll make towards the end. These
choices aren’t really signposted as such, and may not even seem all
that important at the time, but they add up in a way that feels
meaningful and has genuine emotional impact.

In terms of story and
characters, The Witcher 3, overall, is one of the best written games
I’ve played. The Bloody Baron arc alone is incredible, especially
when you factor in the variations depending on your choices. The game
has a fantastic range of characters, including what is probably the
strongest cast of female characters I’ve seen in a game.

The only character I felt
needed more work was the main villain of the piece who, somewhat
unusually for this series, lacked in shades of grey. Even when we
learn his motivation – which is actually reasonable to a degree –
it’s a little glossed over and he’s treated very much as a
straight up bad guy when there was far more room to expand and
develop his character.

I also think you’ll find
the story far more enjoyable if you’ve played the series from the
start. There’s moments at the very end of TW3 that touch upon the
end of the first game, and if you’re new to the series it may seem
like certain elements of the ending are introduced a little abruptly.

There are moments in the
game when you get to play as another character, but though I found
these segments fun to a degree, they are very limited in terms of
gameplay or narrative and overall, I considered them to be somewhat
unnecessary. Some characters played less of a role in the overall
story than I would have liked, and I also wish a little more
attention had been granted to particular story threads still
outstanding from TW2. Some aren’t even addressed at all. Something
for the planned expansions, maybe?

The open world in terms of
locations offers a good variety, and when I reached the Skellige
region it almost felt like stepping into entirely new game thanks to
the change in scenery and music. Navigating the world is easy thanks
to the fast travel points, but riding between locations is equally
enjoyable. Sailing, however, feels somewhat unnecessary and doesn’t
really add much to the experience. Oh, and swimming controls are
irritatingly fiddly, especially as you flail about trying to loot an
underwater chest. Your horse, bless him, also has a few issues when
you call – tending to get stuck on scenery, or in one instance,
spawning inside a house.

The Gwent mini-game is
fantastic, addictive fun but also extremely easy. I must have only
lost one or two games out of more than a hundred. It’s far too easy
to bait your opponents into playing their entire hand in a single
round. Also, once you start building up your deck, nobody can really
compete. Another mini-game of sorts – horse racing (although it’s
treated more as a ‘quest’ event) – feels a little tacked on and
doesn’t really offer any serious challenge. It’s a fun little
diversion, however. This also applies to the fist fighting quests
which are all a simple matter of counter and strike.

In terms of visuals and
sound, TW3 is exceptional. As I mentioned in my First Impressions
post, the game can look stunning at times. Yes, are there certain
moments, animations or textures you can scrutinise but overall, The
Witcher 3 builds a fantastic, living world. The VA is excellent
throughout – with the exception of the bloody awful loading screen
dialogue – and the music is also excellent, perfectly complementing
the experience whether in combat or out. There’s certainly room for
improvement in terms of performance, but it provides a solid,
playable experience and it does seem to gradually be improving with
each patch release.

The economy of the game
world is virtually irrelevant to the experience. Aside from
purchasing upgrade diagrams to various potions or bombs, I rarely
spent a single coin. With the Witcher set gear being the best,
overall, you can get, there’s little reason to purchase or craft
alternatives – and even then, you’ll find plenty of alternatives
upon dead foes or in treasure chests. Food and herbs are required on
occasion, but both can also be found in the world. Junk loot is
everywhere in sight and able to be sold. By the time I was level 20,
I had over 30k in my pocket and nothing to spend it on.

Combat is a major piece of
The Witcher 3 puzzle. You have your two swords – steel and silver,
various blade oils, magic Signs, a crossbow and a variety of bombs.
There are no traps this time, which is a little disappointing, but
overall, TW3 offers a good variety of offensive options which can be
quickly combined to devastating effect.

Combat is certainly faster
paced than in TW2. In addition to his dodge roll, Geralt can now also
side step. There’s more emphasis on mobility during fights –
especially during group battles. And there is some strategy involved
in terms of managing groups of opponents using Signs or bombs, or
applying the appropriate oils. The combat system is more skill than
stat based, which means you can tackle opponents of a much higher
level. However, these battles tend to be more of a grind than truly
exciting, as you simply dodge and strike until you whittle down their
health.

And really, when you boil
it down, that’s all the combat really is – side step and strike.
The animations are great, especially the finishing moves, but there’s
no great variety in terms of combat moves. You do have a parry and
counterstrike mechanic, but it’s rarely needed. Thankfully, by
combining different bombs and Signs, and also by taking advantage of
the environment, you can create quite varied and enjoyable combat
encounters – but it’s very much in the hands of the player to
take advantage of these abilities and vary their tactics, even though
it usually isn’t necessary.

Over time, as you unlock
new skills – different sword strikes or alternate Sign abilities –
it does evolve into something a little more interesting – it’s
just a shame it takes so long to get there. And the way the character
level system works – by assigning skills to slots – just feels
needlessly restrictive.

Whilst the game has a
fantastic roster of monster types to fight, they typically fall into
3 or 4 attack pattern types, and their attacks tend to be quite
choreographed, making them easy to avoid. The majority of monsters,
for example, have a dash and lunge strike. It might catch you out the
first time or two, but once you get the hang of the side step, you’ll
never be troubled by it again.The
open nature of the world can also play havoc with some fights, as
enemies get stuck on or in
scenery.

Also, because of the
somewhat limited enemy attack styles and patterns, there’s very few
fights in the game that really stand out, aside from a ‘boss’
style fight or two. Although there are some story based ‘epic
fights’ they sadly aren’t all that epic to actually play.

And then we have the
problem with enemy ‘aggro’. Enemies tend to have a set ‘range’
at which they’ll attack. Stray just out of this range and they’ll
forget you exist. What’s worse, this range tends to have a ‘sweet
spot’ where enemies just stand and growl at you, allowing you to
whittle them safely down with your crossbow. It’s a cheap, boring
tactic and not something I recommend, but it really shouldn’t be
possible.

In terms of difficulty, the
Easy and Normal modes aren’t worth your time. I played on Hard, but
as I progressed, I began to wish I’d set it to Extreme. Fights
around or above your level range offer a solid challenge, but often I
was 2-3 levels above the enemies I was fighting. If you’re someone
who likes to explore all content and complete all side quests, you
will begin to out-level the content very rapidly. By the time I
reached Act 2, the quests suggested a level of 19 or so, but I was
already level 25.

Something else to note is
the way TW3 handles combat preparation. Oils can only be applied out
of combat, but potions (and food, bizarrely) can be used at will.
These can also be fully replenished simply by meditating. Whilst I
appreciated not having to scour the world constantly for herbs, with
so many herbalists available, it wouldn’t have really been an
issue. Why not let the player collect or use coin to purchase the
herbs (which would also make money more meaningful) and create as
many potions as they please?

Instead, each potion (and
bomb) is limited to a set amount depending on its ‘upgrade’
level. I’m a little torn on this system, as it does encourage you
to experiment with all the various potions, including the very
powerful ‘decoctions’. I think I would have preferred it,
however, if the more powerful, single shot decoctions were free to
replenish, but the other potions were not – and only limited in
number by player choice. I also found being able to only assign two
potions or bombs to slots a little annoying, as it meant continually
going into the menu during fights to switch things out, which only
served to disrupt the flow of combat.

Another minor issue is the
lack of storage options. I ended up carrying around all the various
Witcher gear I’d crafted because I had no place to safely store it
save dropping it to the floor and hoping it didn’t de-spawn. The
level requirements on gear also irritated me a little – if I defeat
an opponent 6-7 levels higher and then can’t use the reward because
it’s rated 6-7 levels higher, that’s just annoying. And (due to
the lack of storage) because I don’t want to lug the bloody thing
around for 6-7 more levels taking up inventory weight, I usually just
sell it.

And, as I mentioned, it’s
very easy to out-level content as you progress, meaning many quest
‘rewards’ end up being completely useless. There’s also
something of a shortage of side quests beyond level 28 or so. The
bulk of the content seems catered to the 14-26 level range. This
didn’t bother me too much because it left me free to focus almost
entirely on the core story missions towards the end-game, but if
you’re looking for challenging content towards the end, or even
after, there won’t be much to do except sail to all those little
points of interest in Skellige.

Returning to the idea of
too many quests – it’s not just the number of quests, or even so
many filler type quests that causes such a bloat, but more that this
content is loaded throughout almost all of the first Act. If the side
content had been spread more evenly throughout, rather than a massive
chunk in Act 1 and barely anything in Act 3, then it would have
certainly solved a lot of the game’s pacing issues.

It must seem like I’m
being really hard on TW3, but when I like a game a lot, I’m all the
more inclined to pick it to pieces. And there’s a lot to pick apart
in a massive game like TW3. The question is, are these flaws, both
large and small, seriously detrimental to the overall experience? I’d
say no – but I must admit, they do impact the experience more than
I would like.

Which is why, if I were to
compare TW3 to TW2, I’d consider TW2 to offer a slightly better
experience. Though lacking the scope of TW3, it does provider a
tighter focus and a balanced pace. TW3 may be more expansive, but
it’s diluted by unnecessary content and littered with small, but
irritating design choices. What it does provide, however, is an
emotional and satisfying conclusion to a fantastic series. And it’s
interesting how each game in the series stands alone and plays in its
own unique way.

The Witcher 3 provides an
extensive and comprehensive Witcher experience. Even after completing
the game (120 hours) I still want to keep playing. It’s flawed, but
fantastic. It can be exhausting at times and occasionally
overwhelming, but it always manages to pull things together and keep
you on track. It’s bloated, messy, frustrating and wonderful. And
for all its problems, it’s still one of the best RPGs I’ve ever
played.

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

It’s time for another E3
Special! I watched most of the major conferences live and caught up
on the few I missed. Overall, I have to say this was a pretty good
year for everyone. Let’s start with the Bethesda stuff.

They revealed the new DOOM
which was met with loud cheers as the player chainsawed demons into
pieces. I saw a hilarious article online condemning the ‘extreme
violence’ and ‘satanic imagery’ and wondered if it was 1993
again. Are we still doing this? I mean, it’s a game
about a space marine going into hell to fight cybernetic demons who
shoot laser beams – what kind of twat takes this shit seriously? I
guess it’s nice to know DOOM still has the power to shock.

It didn’t really shock me
though. Ithought it looked a little tame. Almost quaint, in fact. And
I can’t say I particularly cared for what I saw. The demo had an odd piss filter to it which I didn’t
really like, and player movement seemed strangely sluggish. Weapons
were big, loud and as messy as you’d expect, but the constant (and
not particularly varied) animated ‘kill moves’ were a bit
tedious. I didn’t think the weapons, environments or enemies were
particularly inspired either. Eh, I’ll wait and see.

Dishonored 2! It was only a
CG trailer, so there’s not much to say, but I’m pleased we’re
getting a new Dishonored game. From what I understand, you can choose
to play as (or will switch between?) Corvo and Emily. Which is neat, especially if
they have different skills that let you approach missions in
different ways.

I’m not quite sure how
that will work within the story, but I was always more interested in
the world of Dishonored rather than the story anyway. Also, will they
be voiced this time, or will both be mute weirdos like Corvo in the
original?

They unveiled a new
mobile/tablet based Fallout game which looked kind of fun, but I
don’t own a tablet or a smartphone, so... I was more
interested in the Fallout 4 stuff which is looking pretty good. Okay,
so in a lot of ways, it’s actually just looking like a somewhat prettier
Fallout 3, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because I liked
FO3.

The new crafting and
settlement building stuff looked fun. And there’s a dog! Who I’ll
probably leave at home because his AI will be shit and he’ll keep
getting in my way or running into fences. And I’m
not sure about the ‘voiced’ protagonist thing. It doesn’t seem
quite right and I wonder how much it will limit dialogue options. I
think it’s the story and quests I’m most interested in, because
that’s what will really make or break the game for me.

What’s next? Microsoft!
They announced X-Box One backwards compatibility with 360 titles –
sorry, some
360 titles – although if it’s anything like original X-Box
compatibility with the 360, half of them probably won’t bloody work or
will actually run worse. It’s a nice thing, don’t get me wrong,
but it’s not convinced me to upgrade to an X-BOX One. Hell, I can’t
remember the last time I used my 360 anyway.

They showed some Halo 5
which is…more Halo, I guess, if you like that. There was a Dark
Souls 3 trailer, but I’ve not even played DS2 yet and I’m
honestly in no great hurry. And do we really want to see this turn
into another yearly franchise? They ended the show with a look at
Gears 4, which aside from the characters and weapons, didn’t really
look anything like a Gears game in terms of aesthetic. It also had
the annoying ‘press Y to look at cool thing’ going on far too
often.

We also saw a new Tomb Raider
gameplay demo, but it was really more of a long cut-scene with the occasional
‘press X to not die’ moment. I hope it comes to PC eventually, because I would like to play it. Even though I had a lot of
issues with the last one, I still enjoyed it and would like to see
what they’ve done with the sequel.

The only thing that really
caught my eye during the Microsoft conference was a trailer for a
game called Recore. But it was just another CG trailer, so…

The
EA conference was so f**king dull it nearly put me to sleep,
especially the moment they rolled out Pele for a mumbled conversation
about football. Of course, you can’t just tell Pele to shut up on a
live stage in front of thousands, so we all had to put up with his
doddery ramblings until they could politely usher him away. Who
thought this was a good idea? It was almost as bad as Ubisoft
wheeling out some singer I’ve never heard of, who couldn’t
even bloody sing. Wasn’t this a video game show?

EA
teased a new Mass Effect. The less I say about that, the better.
There was lots of SPORTS but I nodded off through most of those.
Thankfully, they showed off two games a lot of people have been
waiting to see – Mirror’s Edge 2 (or Catalyst or whatever,
because it’s not a sequel or a reboot or just f**k right off, I’m
calling it ME2) and Star Wars: Battlefront.

Battlefront
looked really good, except it was one of those scripted Battlefield
style demos where everyone plays as a team and you know matches with
real players won’t actually resemble anything like it at all.
Mirror’s Edge 2 is going all open world from what I understand. And
that could be kind of neat, the whole ‘no levels’ thing.

But
that said, the structured missions of the original gave the game a
nice variety of environments and set-pieces. This included internal
environments. How will the new game handle the transition between
internal and external in a single open world? Or will it all just be
rooftops with the occasional sprint through a corridor? I’m open to
the notion of an open world Mirror’s Edge – hell, I think I even
suggested such a thing back in my review – but it was the
structured missions of ME that gave the game pace and variety, and
that’s not something I want to lose.

Also,
what did they do to Faith? Some of the promo shots make her face look
really weird. Why did they need to redesign her appearance at all?
She looked fine.

Ubisoft
revealed another South Park RPG, but without Obsidian at the helm. I
don’t know…as much as I liked The Stick of Truth, I’m not sure
I care much about a sequel. They also showed off a new game called
For Honor, which was probably the highlight of their show for me.
Vikings vs Samurai vs Knights? Sold!

We
saw some more of The Division which looks progressively worse every
year and some more of the new Rainbow Six which still looks nice –
if you play with friends. Because if you don’t you’ll probably be boned. We also saw a new Ghost Recon which looked okay, but
I think it was another co-op focused title which is no good for me
because I have no friends. Thanks for reminding me, you f**ks.

Sony
probably had the best conference. The Last Guardian looked
good but it was Horizon: Zero Dawnthat I was most
interested in. Hunting robot dinosaurs in
a post-apocalyptic future? Neat! Shame I’ll probably never play it
because it’s PS4 exclusive. Well, maybe I’ll pick one up
eventually, but not for just one or two games. No Man’s Sky still
looks okay. Oh, and they also tossed in a little bit about Shenmue 3.
No big deal, or anything.

Anything else? Deus Ex:
Mankind Divided had a trailer, but I haven’t seen any proper
gameplay footage yet. And it doesn’t look like we’ll see any Total War:
Warhammer footage until July. Oh well, I think that’s about it. The
show is still going on so maybe I’ll see more stuff that interests
me, but that’s about it for now. Like I said, a pretty good year.

Sunday, 7 June 2015

After 80 hours of
play and clearing nearly everything in the Velen/Novigrad region,
I’ve finally arrived in Skellige and it’s almost like stepping
into an entirely new game. I know I’ve still got some way to go,
and I think I’ll try to focus on the core missions for a bit. The
problem is, every time I see a new location or point of interest, I
MUST KNOW WHAT IT IS. So the review is still coming, but in the
meantime here are some tasty shots -

Thursday, 4 June 2015

For five days, from Friday
June 5th
to Tuesday June 9th,
The Great Journey and Zero Sample: Fragments will be available to
download for free! I really should make this more of a regular thing.

In other news, I’m still
working through The Witcher 3. I hope to have it wrapped up and
reviewed by the end of this month, but I really don’t want to rush
it. It’s any easy game to lose yourself in, but also to burn out
on.

Tuesday, 2 June 2015

Hatred is an indie
twin-stick shooter in which you play ‘Not Important’, a man on a
‘genocide crusade’. There are seven levels and the game can
be completed relatively quickly (2-3 hours) if you ignore additional
objectives and play on the easiest setting. However, this short
length and lack of content is reflected in the budget friendly
release price.

This also isn’t a game
that really needs
to be any longer. At its core, Hatred is a somewhat repetitive and
simplistic shooter. It’s not
The Witcher 3 – a game you’ll sit and play for a dozen hours at
a time. It has more in common with arcade style titles designed for
short, burst style play. As you progress through the game on one of
its three difficulty settings – Easy, Hard and Extreme – you’ll
unlock each level which you can then replay straight from the main
menu.

There’s very little in
the way of story or cut-scenes to skip (though you can do so if you
wish). Even the ‘tutorial’ is kept short and sharp before
throwing you straight into the action. Fortunately, Hatred does offer
a solid degree of replay value as each level serves as something of a
mini-sandbox, and your experience will be slightly different each
time you play. The difficulty modes also offer some replay by
providing a decent challenge, particularly in the last few levels.

Because though the shooting
mechanics of Hatred may be rather simplistic, there is more strategy involved than you might expect. Using the sprint and dodge
abilities to retreat and avoid fire is a vital part of play, as is
crouching to take cover behind objects. The game often throws
significant numbers of opponents at you and it’s easy to be
surrounded and overwhelmed very quickly.

Playing on Hard, I found
that retreat was always a sensible option. You do have to play smart
if you want to survive. And most importantly, you must use the
environment to your advantage. Many buildings contain explosive
materials which you can lure groups of enemies towards before
triggering a chain explosion. You can also use doorways and corridors
to create bottlenecks in which you can funnel your opponents in order
to limit and better manage their numbers.

Ammo conservation is
another important part of the strategy. It’s often wise to avoid
shooting civilians unless you need to complete a
particular objective, and even then, it’s actually more efficient
to use your overpowered, door smashing jump kick – efficient and
a little hilarious. Health regeneration must also be considered. You
can only regain health by executing wounded opponents, but doing so
can leave you vulnerable.

Planning how to approach
each level can also be important – knowing where ammo, guns or
amour are located and being ready to tackle the inevitable wave of
tougher enemies in the form of SWAT or the Army. There’s an
interesting checkpoint system whereby every ‘side’ objective you
complete unlocks a new (single use) respawn point. This is something
of a risk/reward system. By attacking each of these objective
locations you’ll attract the attention of a lot of police, so it’s
best to try to clear them as quickly and efficiently as possible in
order to unlock the respawn point and then flee before more enemies
arrive.

Once you’ve spent each
respawn point you’ll have to restart the entire level, another
mechanic that makes Hatred feel more like an arcade style title –
the only thing that’s really missing is a score or time attack
style option for each of the levels. In terms of weapon and enemy
variety, you get a solid, if limited selection. Thanks to some great
animations, guns feel satisfying to use and have a nice ‘punch’
to them, as you riddle your opponents with bullets or blast holes
through walls. The real highlight, however, is the fantastic
flame-thrower!

You also have three grenade
types (and enemies will use grenades too, so be warned) including a
flash-bang, which has the very nice touch of subduing all of the
sound in the game when one goes off near you. It’s a neat little
detail, and there are many neat little details spread throughout
Hatred if you care to look – radio chatter from police, TV images,
billboard signs etc.

The police and the army
aren’t the only threat you’ll face though, as some civilians
carry guns and will even stop and pick up dropped weapons to fight
you. But mostly, civilians exist to top up your health and, aside
from certain objectives to ‘kill X amount’, you’ll mostly
ignore them. I mentioned how it’s important to play in an
‘efficient’ manner, and that’s also true of the health
replenishing execution scenes.

It would have been very
easy for the developers to make these scenes drawn out and gruesome –
not so different to a Mortal Kombat fatality – but they sensibly
kept them short and to the point. Hatred is quite a fast paced game,
and anything that takes you out
of the action for a moment can be a bit irritating. Thankfully, the
scenes don’t always
trigger when you execute, and there’s even the option to disable
them entirely, which you may want to do as they can get a bit
repetitive over time.

Mechanically, the violence
on display is rather tame compared to other titles. Hatred certainly
doesn’t glorify it, or justify it in any manner. It’s handled in
a very cold, efficient and detached style. I’ve seen some criticism
of Hatred for lacking a ‘statement’ or a ‘meaning’ to its
violence, but Hatred isn’t attempting to make any kind of statement
and frankly, no game should be expected to.

With regards to story,
Hatred is so over the top and silly that you really can’t take it
seriously. ‘Not Important’ growls cheesy one-liners, cut-scenes
are hilariously bad – in particular the ending, which really
should win an award. I honestly can’t remember the last time a game
made me laugh so much. It plays everything pretty much completely
straight, which might confuse people looking for more of a nudge/wink
at the camera style experience. Hatred is very much self-aware of how
ridiculous it is in terms of character/story and it absolutely revels
in it.

Graphically, Hatred employs
a stylish black/white colour clash of flashing lights and neon signs.
There’s a slight grain across the picture giving the feeling of
CCTV footage. As an aesthetic choice I like it, although at times,
during the fast paced action, it can be hard to spot your targets if
they’re bunched up against a dark background (although there is a
key to highlight objects and enemies so it’s not a major issue).
The levels have a fantastic degree of destructibility allowing you to
blast (or drive!) through walls, setting off explosions that
completely demolish structures. It’s a lot of fun.

In terms of sound and
music, Hatred is also quite impressive. It would have been easy to
drown out each level in thumping music but instead, the developers
took a different approach. The soundtrack is wonderfully subdued,
throbbing away in the background, creating a great sense of tension
and unease. It ramps up where appropriate, but never detracts or more
importantly distracts
from the action.

Now I’ve talked a lot
about the positives of the game, let’s look at some of the
negatives. First up is performance. I’m running the game on High
rather than Ultra and getting a solid, if not particularly impressive
30-45 FPS. Playable, but I’d expect better so I hope this gets
patched. I’ve not seen too many bugs, although there are times when
your character can get ‘stuck’ on scenery, and one time a vehicle
I was driving flipped over for no apparent reason. Vehicle controls
are also pretty awkward, but thankfully you won’t spend much time
in them.

Although I liked the
respawn system it can sometimes drop you back into an area surrounded
by cops resulting in an almost instant and unfair death. Some
enemies, such as the army guys, can also shoot from just beyond your
maximum vision range, which feels a little cheap. AI can also be a
bit wonky at times – it’s possible to ‘line’ enemies up in a
bottleneck and get them to shoot one another.

My main issue with Hatred
is really just how limited it is. Although I enjoyed it and will
likely play it again a few more times, it really needed more in terms
of modes, weapons and enemy variety. Like I said, some kind of score
or time attack system, or perhaps an ‘endless survival’ style
mode. I believe mod tools are planned, so perhaps we’ll see
something along those lines in the future, if not from potential DLC,
then from a fan creation.

And, uh, honestly, I can’t
really find many other negatives. As a budget indie title, Hatred
delivers exactly what it promises – a short, challenging, if
somewhat repetitive, twin-stick shooter. If that’s all you’re
expecting, then you won’t be disappointed. The gameplay mechanics
are solid and there’s a limited but fair degree of replay value.
The destruction physics are great and the graphics, though a matter
of subjective taste, fit the tone of the game perfectly. Thanks to an
element of strategy, it’s not entirely mindless, although
‘tasteless’ is another matter. Hatred certainly won’t be a game
for everyone, but it’s not trying to be.

Hatred is the sort of game
I’ll keep installed and play on occasion for some senseless,
violent action. It’s a game to take a break with from more
‘serious’ titles. It doesn’t try to be something it’s not,
nor does it pretend to be. There’s no pretension here – what you
see is what you get. There’s not much more to it, or for me to
really say. Though a limited experience, Hatred is solid, enjoyable,
harmless fun. Oh, and did I mention the flame-thrower?